“Cosmetic surgery” is a phrase used to describe broadly surgical changes made to a human body with the usual, though not always, justification of enhancing appearance. This area of medical practice constitutes an ever-growing industry around the world. Obviously, where such a procedure fails to deliver an enhanced appearance, the procedure fails to meet the desired goal. One of the reasons that the majority of current procedures fail to deliver upon their promise is that, for the most part, current procedures are invasive, requiring incisions and suturing, and can have serious and unpleasant side effects, including but not limited to scarring, infection, and loss of sensation.
One of the more common forms of cosmetic surgery is the “face-lift.” A face-lift is intended to enhance facial appearance by removing excess facial skin and tightening the remaining skin, thus removing wrinkles. A face-lift is traditionally performed by cutting and removing portions of the skin and underlying tissues on the face and neck. Two incisions are made around the ears and the skin on the face and neck is separated from the subcutaneous tissues. The skin is stretched, excess tissue and skin are removed by cutting with a scissors or scalpel, and the skin is pulled back and sutured around the ears. The tissue tightening occurs after healing of the incisions because less skin covers the same area of the face and neck and also because of the scars formed on the injured areas are contracting during the healing process.
Traditional face-lift procedures are not without potential drawbacks and side effects. One drawback of traditional cosmetic surgery is related to the use of scalpel and scissors. The use of these devices sometimes leads to significant bleeding, nerve damage, possible infection and/or lack of blood supply to some areas on the skin after operation. Discoloration of the skin, alopecia (boldness), is another possible side effect of the standard cosmetic surgery. The overall quality of the results of the surgery is also sometimes disappointing to the patients because of possible over-corrections, leading to undesired changes in the facial expression. Additionally, face-lift procedures require a long recovery period before swelling and bruising subside.
The use of lasers to improve the appearance of the skin has been also developed. Traditional laser resurfacing involves application of laser radiation to the external layer of the skin—the epidermis. Destruction of the epidermis leads to rejuvenation of the epidermis layer. The drawback of the laser resurfacing procedure is possible discoloration of the skin (red face) that can be permanent.
Another laser procedure involves using optical fibers for irradiation of the subcutaneous tissues, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Re36,903. This procedure is invasive and requires multiple surgical incisions for introduction of the optical fibers under the skin. The fibers deliver pulsed optical radiation that destroys the subcutaneous tissues as the tip of the fiber moves along predetermined lines on the face or neck. Debulking the subcutaneous fat and limited injury to the dermis along the multiple lines of the laser treatment results in contraction of the skin during the healing process, ultimately providing the face lift. The drawback of the method is its high price and possibility of infection.
Electrosurgical devices and methods utilizing high frequency electrical energy to treat a patient's skin, including resurfacing procedures and removal of pigmentation, scars, tattoos and hairs have been developed lately, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,652. The principle drawback of this technology is collateral damage to the surrounding and underlying tissues, which can lead to forming scars and skin discoloration.
Other forms of cosmetic surgery are also known. One example is liposuction, which is an invasive procedure that involves inserting a suction device under the skin and removing fat tissues. As with other invasive surgical procedures, there is always a risk of infection. In addition, because of the invasive nature of the procedure, physicians usually try to minimize the number of times the procedure must be performed and thus will remove as much fat tissue as possible during each procedure. Unfortunately, this procedure has resulted in patient deaths when too much tissue was removed. Assuming successful removal of excess fat tissue, further invasive surgery may be required to accomplish desired skin tightening.
The prior art to date, then, does not meet the desired goal of performing cosmetic surgery in a non-invasive manner while causing minimal or no scarring of the exterior surface of the skin and at the same time resulting in the skin tightening.